Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the level of disabled access and opportunities in British Gymnastics at (a) youth and (b) adult level.

Sport England’s Active Lives Adult and Children surveys provide information on activity levels across a variety of sports, including gymnastics, and include data on participation by disabled people. The latest reports can be found here.

Government recognises the importance of ensuring disabled access to sports facilities. Our sport strategy, Sporting Future, sets out a clear ambition to increase levels of physical activity, particularly amongst under-represented groups, including disabled people.

This is reinforced in Sport England’s new strategy Uniting the Movement, which sets out their 10 year vision to transform lives and communities through sport and physical activity. The strategy seeks to tackle the inequalities seen in sport and physical activity and provide opportunities to people that have traditionally been left behind, including those with a disability, helping to remove barriers to activity.

Government is also currently in the process of recruiting a new cohort of Disability and Access Ambassadors, one of whom will focus on the Sport and Physical Activity sector. The ambassador will help to drive improvements in the accessibility and quality of services and facilities in the sector for disabled people, as consumers and employees.